By God's grace and leading, we've sought to reach Middle Easterners with the gospel. We've sought to disciple them and to teach them to watch their life and doctrine closely, as the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy here. And we've sought to teach mostly Western, as well as some Korean, missionary candidates what that same sound doctrine and genuine Christian lifestyle looks like. and how it can be lived cross-culturally. And, of course, you have been major stakeholders, as it were, in this enterprise. You've invested much over the years in our ministry, and you have a right to know exactly what that gospel message is, which, by God's grace, we have been preaching and teaching, what it consists of. You have a right to do so, because basic Biblical teachings about the nature of God, about the nature of the Gospel, about the nature of Christian ministry, about the nature of the Christian life are under great pressure in the evangelical world today. We live in this hyper-tolerant Western culture which stumbles over the idea that some things are fundamentally true and that other things are fundamentally false. We're also part of a church in which an increasing number of thinkers are seeking to make the Christian worldview more palatable, more acceptable to that postmodern, hyper-tolerant mind. On the one hand, and, on the other hand, are seeking to build ecumenical bridges with churches which preach a very different gospel from the one the Apostle Paul preached and the one that the reformers fought for. By focusing on the more socially acceptable attributes of God, such as his love, by casting doubt on awkward, difficult issues like eternal judgment, by encouraging social transformation, by encouraging ecumenical cooperation, some very popular contemporary evangelical writers are seeking to create greater relevance for the church in the different spheres of human life and endeavor. And in that process, They're reshaping classic evangelical reformed Christianity into something which a previous generation of evangelical missionaries would have firmly rejected. Who is right? Which truths are not culturally determined? Which truths must be proclaimed in season and out? Which truth must be proclaimed irrespective of time or culture? What should the minister of the gospel, what should the newly minted missionary, the born-again Christian seeking to share his faith, focus on? And what should they not focus on? In other words, what worthwhile activities are not part of the church's or of the missionary mandate? These are very important questions because they will shape the nature of the Church's activities. They shape the nature of the missionary enterprise, and getting them wrong has eternal consequences. But you know, there's nothing new under the sun. The Church has, from the very beginning, faced the pressure of a society seeking to mold it in its own image. And it's also from the beginning, faced from within, those who are seeking to make the message, the Christian message, more socially acceptable. And so really, there is nothing new under the sun in this area. In fact, back around the year 63 AD, Paul wrote to this young person whom he had trained and whom he had mentored and whom he had left behind in this large cosmopolitan city of Ephesus to continue the work that had begun there. And then some years later, about five years later, around the year 68 AD, just before Paul's own death, he wrote him again because this young man felt overwhelmed by the task of leading a church in one of the great urban centers of the Roman Empire. And when counseling young Timothy, Paul hammered home one basic message, which he spelled out, which he encapsulated in that chapter 4, verse 16, where he says, watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. And this is indeed, I believe, the message which the church and the missionary community would do well to take to heart today. And what I'd like to do with you this morning is just look at the two halves of Paul's injunction. And I'm going to start on the doctrine part. Watch your doctrine closely. As I mentioned, our missionary career has consisted of trying to communicate sound doctrine to Muslim background believers, in other words to former Muslims who have become Christians, and then laterally to train and to shape new missionary candidates in that sound doctrine of New Testament teaching. trying to give them a firm foundation in classic evangelical, biblically-rooted Christianity, and teaching them how to communicate that meaningfully in a foreign language and in a foreign cultural context. I'd like to just remind you of what those core teachings of sound doctrine are, which, in the process of communicating cross-culturally, must not be fudged. which hopefully in that process challenge you to watch and to proclaim and to live them closely as well. Well, the first of the core teachings which we seek to teach and proclaim is penal substitutionary atonement. In other words, penal means legal. There's a legal necessity for it. The atonement had to be done this way legally. Now, very high profile, very eloquent, very popular, very persuasive writers today are arguing for alternative views to penal substitutionary atonement. There's the so-called new perspective on Paul, or there's some rehashes of very old versions of alternative views to the atonement, like the ransom to Satan theory or Christus Victor. In other words, they're They are definitions of the atonement which have nothing to do with appeasing the righteous judgment of God or which makes the results of the atonement with the atonement itself. So allow me to remind you of this fundamental Christian teaching. It is the heart of the Christian gospel. It was typified in the Old Testament sacrificial system. It was foretold by Israel's prophets, like Isaiah said, the servant of the Lord would be pierced for our transgressions. Now, penal substitutionary atonement is really just kind of a theological shorthand. It's a theological shorthand for the fact that God fulfilled the righteous demands of the law in the second person of the Trinity, incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. and that that same now legally acceptable Christ absorbed the righteous judgment of God on behalf of sinners. That's what it is. As Paul put it so succinctly in 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. What love! What grace! The covenant-keeping, holy God, who is bound by the perfection of His own attributes, setting Himself free to act in mercy towards those who come to Him in repentance and faith, without in any way taking anything away from His own attributes, from His own perfection, from His own righteousness, from His own holiness, No other worldview, no other religion comes close to such a perfect doctrine of saving grace granted by an altogether righteous and perfectly holy God. Saving people from their sin doesn't cost the God of Islam, doesn't cost Allah anything. If you're ever talking to a Muslim, ask him, what does it cost Allah to save a sinner? And the answer is nothing. It costs you to be saved from your sin. Your righteousness has to outweigh your evil. And then ask, but what about the person who sinned all his life, like the thief on the cross? Well, if God wants to, he can do it. But not in Christianity. God cannot just willy-nilly forgive, except at great cost to himself. He had to set himself free to do so. He had to fulfill his own righteous demands. And he did so through penal substitutionary atonement. For he is a just God. He must punish the breaking of his law. He is a covenant-keeping God. He keeps his word. That's why he is knowable. That's why he is trustworthy. That's why you can rely on him for time and for all eternity. Embrace this truth. Teach this truth. Proclaim it in any way you can. For this isn't some culturally determined truth. This wasn't an idea invented during the Protestant Reformation. This is the heart of New Testament teaching. This is a transaction which took place within the Godhead. on behalf of sinners, so that God could reach out to you and to me, no matter how sinful we are, no matter how worthless we are, no matter how great lawbreakers we are. Yet he can do so with love and with grace, without taking anything away from who he is as the perfectly right and just and holy one. That's penal substitutionary atonement. That's what we proclaim. That's what we stand for. That's what we teach. And the second aspect of the gospel, which we proclaim, is that God's love is channeled through the person of Jesus Christ. Again, very, very high profile, very eloquent, very popular and persuasive writers today, evangelical, self-styled evangelical writers are arguing that God's love is this indiscriminate fountain that anyone can tap into. Now, this is a lovely idea, but it's not biblical. Now, of course, there is such a thing as God's common grace. And God's common grace is evident in a thousand different ways. The world is not hell. There are many people out there doing good things to make this world more humane. More humane than it otherwise would be. Common grace is a wonderful thing. But common grace is not saving grace. The Bible teaches that God's saving grace, His saving love, are channeled to the person of Jesus Christ. It has to be because of who God is as the altogether righteous one. The Apostle John in 1 John 4 and 9 puts it this way, this is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. So go on and proclaim that God's saving love and grace are channeled through the person of Jesus Christ, yes. And that they, you, we can become objects of God's love in Christ if we respond in faith and repentance in that atonement which Christ accomplished in His life and in His death. Embrace this truth too. Preach it. Teach it. Proclaim that it is possible to enter into a healthy father-child relationship with Almighty God. the one perfect in all his attributes, because he himself in Christ fulfilled the righteous demands of the law on the one hand, and bore the righteous judgment on behalf of lawbreakers on the other hand. and proclaim that one can be born again to newness of life by coming to the cross and recognizing Jesus Christ as one's Savior, as one's Lord, as one's Master, and that this Master's yoke is easy and that His burden is light, for He's going to give you His regenerating Spirit to enable you to start living a life which will lead, in time, to your becoming more and more like the One who saved you. more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ himself, as you respond to that Spirit's nudgings and to that Spirit's leadings. Proclaim that the sinner can start to avail himself of all of this through faith, through calling in faith to God, believing that he accomplished their eternal salvation on our behalf. The third thing that we preach is that all will be well for those who are in Christ. Ultimately. But ultimately, not until Jesus Christ comes again. Yes, all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. But ultimately, not until that selfsame Jesus comes again. Again, very high profile and eloquent and popular and persuasive writers today are arguing that God's mission is about creating the shalom that the prophets foresaw in the current historical reality. That that is our job. No. The New Testament teaches that this world is a war zone and it will remain a war zone until Christ comes again. That there is no ultimate shalom on this side of glory. That you're going to face questions, and sorrows, and pains, and hurts, and dilemmas, and false teachers. That before Christ comes again, there are many wills, human and demonic, that are vying for your time, and your money, and your interests, for your life. Paul warned Timothy in that section that we read that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. We have to embrace this reality too and embrace it and teach it and proclaim it. On this side of glory, things are messy, but one day Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We must live in the light of that. All of history is moving towards that reality. That day when this great company of believers whom Christ purchased on the cross will welcome him with hallelujahs and the rest of mankind will also bow the knee, but unwillingly so before his his judgment seat. You know, these teachings about the nature of the atonement, the nature of the love of God, the nature of the end of the story, as it were, may seem obvious to us here in a church that is well taught. But remember, they're under attack, both within the church and within the mission's context. Leaders may have to, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1.3, command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer, as Paul urged Timothy to do. This requires great discernment. This requires a strong understanding of what the heart of the gospel is. It requires a strong conviction of what the essence of the Christian faith is. 1 Timothy 1.18 Paul says, hold on to faith and a good conscience and watch your life and doctrine closely. In doing so, you will save both yourself and your hearers. And that takes me to the second part of that little phrase, watch your Life and doctrine. What's your life? Paul also says. Well, the most precious thing that we have as Christians is our salvation in Jesus Christ. But the second most precious thing we have is our testimony, our Christian testimony. Without a testimony of transforming grace, our theology is just a hollow gong and a clanging cymbal. But how do you maintain a Christian testimony in a fallen world and with a fallen human nature? Now, the subject of how one can live out an increasingly sanctified Christian life is a very large subject, and I have but limited time. But I'd like to just briefly touch on the basics of that as well. In the first place, if you're a born-again believer, We are to count ourselves to be dead to sin and resurrected to newness of life in Jesus Christ. In other words, we're to reckon, to count, to believe the above theological truths that we just talked about, about our salvation and about our identity in Christ and about the indwelling Holy Spirit to be true for ourselves. Paul in Romans 6.5 calls it, counting yourself as having been united with Christ in his death and in his resurrection. Basically it means that you agree with God about what God says about believers. That believers are now righteous in Jesus Christ. That there is therefore now no more condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. I count, I presume this to be true for me. Legally. My new identity is radically other. In Romans 6.11 Paul says, Thus consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to Jesus Christ our Lord. And in Galatians 2.20 he puts it this way, I have been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live but Christ living in me. That the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I presume this to be true. That's my default position intellectually. Faith presumes, reckons, considers the fact that my old nature was crucified with Christ to be true. and that consequently the power of sin in the life of the believer can be broken. Sin can be successfully resisted because there is a second nature operating in the believer which draws its life from that ongoing abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. As Christ himself put it so clearly in that analogy of the branches and the vine. That's who we draw our life from. This is who you are as a believer, your new identity. Christ's righteousness has been imputed, been given to you. He has taken your sin upon himself. This is who I am. From that position, we can now actively offer ourselves, our bodies, as living sacrifices to God, day after day after day. You see, we're called to rule. And that rule begins over our own bodies. If we cannot rule this tiny little area over which I have been given vassalship, how can I be expected to rule over anything else? That's why Paul puts so much emphasis on controlling the members of your body. Romans 6.13, Do not present the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness, but present them to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Or in Romans 12.1 he writes, Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Just to clarify this, in my personal devotional life, I go through a little daily ritual in the morning. I do it almost every day. And the little ritual is just like this. When I pray and have my devotion, I tend to pace up and down. And as I pace up and down, I, on one wall, kind of visualize a cross, the cross of Christ. And I visualize Christ on that cross, hanging. And then I visualize in my mind myself with Christ on that cross, kind of, I'm one with him in that, just in my mind's eye. And then I visualize Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea taking us down from that cross and burying us. And then I visualize myself rising from the dead with Christ. And then from that position in the morning, I say, OK, Lord, here I am. Identified with you. And now, Lord, I have the great joy of offering the members of my body for your service. So here I am, Lord. Today, what I look at, what I think about, and Lord, today I'm speaking in church. Control my tongue. What I say, how I say it. Lord, I'm yours. My hands, my feet, my sexual organs. Lord, it's controlling. It's yours, Lord. All the members of my body. So regularly, daily, presenting the members of our body to God as a sacrifice. Lord, I could never do this in my own strength. But so here I am. This little bit that I'm supposed to have vassalship over. All I can do is offer it back to you. I hand them over to you for your spirit to energize in such a way that today I can walk according to your revealed will for your people. And then you step into the day. and you can begin to choose to live in an increasingly Christ-like manner. We then begin to make choices. We start acting like what we will one day become, Christ-like. See, God has given us that indwelling spirit which enables us to want to become what we should be, like Him. So now we choose to begin to respond to those promptings of that new nature that was granted to us at regeneration. You know, initially, it seems awkward. Initially, it even seems fake. I am not what I should be. But you begin making choices along that direction. And slowly but surely, as you begin to make those choices from that position of identity in Jesus Christ, you slowly but surely begin to become more what you should be. The first thing we choose to do is to actively mortify the flesh. That's why I had Pastor Bernard choose to read Colossians 3. It means saying no to the desires which war against the way the Holy Spirit is nudging us. As I said, becoming more Christ-like means at the very least gaining control over our bodies. It's called putting to death that which continues to emanate from our sinful nature. It's not asceticism. The body isn't evil in and of itself. It's a fallen body. There are urges. There's a fallen nature in me that's urging me into a certain way that's not Christ-like. We say no to that. No. Basically, you deprive that aspect of your being of oxygen. For if you live after the flesh, you must die, says Paul in Romans 8.13. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Or Galatians 5.24, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lust. Or again in Colossians 3.5, as we read earlier, put to death therefore your members which are of the earth, sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passions, evil desire, covetousness which is idolatry. Or in 1 Corinthians 9.27, Paul says, I beat my body into submission lest by Any other means after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. And there's much more in scripture along these lines. You see, the beauty of this Christian doctrine is that we can allow ourselves to be changed, recognize that we're sinners without having any kind of identity crisis or conflict, because at a fundamental level, we know we're in Christ. We know that God has accepted us as righteous in Him. That's the fundamental identity. And from that position, we can now start that fight to become more what we should be, what we will be, one day when Christ becomes. You're not conflicted while allowing the Spirit to change you. And in that process, first, mortifying the flesh. Secondly, utilizing the means of grace which God has given us. Basically, this just means using the tools which have been given us that we can use to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ. The tools that we can use to feed and to nurture our spiritual life. The Word of God. Just getting into it. Letting it fill our hearts and our minds. Prayer. Fellowship with the body of believers on the one hand. times of solitude on the other hand, using these means of grace to grow, to grow in Christian maturity, to grow to fullness of spiritual life and love and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and self-care, all those spiritual fruits that we can grow into. You see, becoming Christ-like is really nothing more than just developing the fruit of the Spirit. You see, Christ was the perfection of the fruits of the Spirit. Just develop the fruits of the Spirit in your life and you will become more Christ-like. And as you develop these fruits of the Spirit, you'll also become a much happier person. People are seeking happiness. Happiness is a by-product. It's a by-product of growing in Christ-likeness and in holiness. Then you'll become more fruitful in life and ministry. You become a model to others. You become a testimony of transforming power and God's grace as you're an obedient disciple of Jesus Christ. And then lastly, in that process, live life with a sharp focus on building up the Church. Keep a sharp focus on building up the body of believers, the Church of Jesus Christ. Don't let anything distract you from that. The church is the body of believers that Christ died for. The very least we can do is to live for it. As a missionary, my goal has been to build up the church by discipling people, by mentoring people, by teaching people. My passion is the church. Ephesians 4.16, from him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. As we all do our work, exercise the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us, the body will flourish. Let's consider how we can provoke one another to love and good works, says the writer to the Hebrews. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5.11, exhort one another, build each other up, In fact, the reason God gives gifts, spiritual gifts to each one of you, is in order to build up the church. The Corinthian church was all about gifts. And Paul says to them in 1 Corinthians 14, 12, So also, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the building up of the assembly. So mortify the flesh. And offer yourselves daily to the Lord in service. Keep your focus on building up the body of believers. This is our ministry, to watch our life and our doctrine closely, to persevere in them. Because if we do this, we will save ourselves and our hearers. These truths, all that I shared, are supracultural. They're true for people everywhere, for every culture, for all time. And they're true for you, and they're true for me. Our merciful God and Heavenly Father, we come before you and we thank you, Lord, for these eternal truths. We thank you, Lord, for that great truth of the God who worked out an atonement, Lord, that is perfect, that is unique, that had to be this way, as the Lord Jesus Christ himself said to those on the way to Emmaus, it had to be this way because of who God himself is. We thank you, Lord, that you set yourself free to act in love and mercy and compassion to sinners, to lawbreakers. What can we do but to fall down and worship and praise and honor before you? And we thank you, Lord, that you didn't just justify us. We thank you that you sent your Spirit to us, Lord, to begin to work in us, to begin to transform us slowly, surely into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, for those nudgings. We thank you, Lord, for that wonderful identity we can have in him. We thank you, Lord, for the fact that we can respond and give ourselves over to you. We thank you, Lord, that we can begin to bear fruit and live a life of deep meaning in time because it will have bearing on eternity. We thank you and praise you for these things. And, oh, Lord, all we long for is that this may be increased in our life and, Lord, increasingly a great multitude of people from every tribe and tongue and nation embracing these truths as well, that they too may grow in Christlikeness and stand with us around the throne of grace in worship. We pray this with hope and with anticipation and in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.